Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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183. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the options available to a person to challenge an overpayment that has already been paid. [6735/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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When a revised decision on a social welfare entitlement is made, the claimant is notified and given the opportunity to appeal the decision within 21 days. In deciding whether or not the decision should have retrospective effect, deciding officers are required to have regard to the facts relevant to the decision on entitlement. An overpayment is a consequence of a revised decision and is, therefore, not the subject of a separate appeal process. Once the right of appeal has been exercised (or not), the Department will then consider the recovery of the overpayment. At this point, the overpayment becomes a debt to the Department.

The Department has a responsibility to ensure that all debts are refunded in full. People who owe a debt to the Department of Social Protection have a liability under law to repay the debt (Section 338 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 (as amended) refers). They have received money to which they were not entitled.